Apparatus for cleaning fabric



NOV. 20, 1934. R, HETZER 1,981,234

APPARATUS FOR CLEANING FABRIC Filed April 23, 1931 HEHTEI? INVENTOR Hus 55L 1. /7. H5725)? A TORNEY5 Patented Nov. 20, 1934 UNITED STATES Mm OFFICE The American Laundr Cincinnati, Ohio, a corp y Machinery Company, oration of Ohio Application April 23, 1931, Serial No. 532,185

1 Claim My invention relates to apparatus for cleaning fabric and, particularly, to apparatus for drying and deodorizing the fabric.

In cleaning fabric with a volatile detergent o having a low boiling point, it is preferable to employ a closed system to prevent loss of the detergent liquid. Therefore, it is customary in such systems to employ a closed system wherein the detergent remaining in the fabric after the 19 bulk of the detergent liquid used in the treating operation has first been drained off is extracted by forcing heated air through the treating compartment containing the fabric to absorb the detergent and carry it in vapor form and then conducting the saturated or partially saturated air through a condenser where the vapors are condensed into liquid form and drained off. From the condenser the vapor free air is conducted through an air heater to be reheated and is then again. passed through the treating compartment containing the fabric, such circulation of air being repeated fora sufficient length of time to entirely free the fabric of detergent liquid.

My invention contemplates the provision of an improved drying system that forms a part of apparatus for cleaning fabric wherein the time required for entirely freeing the fabric of the detergent liquid is considerably shortened and to accomplish this provision is made whereby all the circulating air traveling through the drying circuit is passe-d from a fan, through an air heater, through the fabric treating compartment, and thence back through the fan and air heater repeatedly without passing through a condenser provided for removing the detergentliquid in vapor form from the heated air, whereby the heated air will become thoroughly saturated with the detergent liquid in vapor form, and then passing all of the saturated air through the condenser to transform the detergent into liquid form. By circulating or by-passing the heated air around the condenser, namely, from the fan, through the heater, through the fabric treating compartment, and thence back to and through the fan, the air is heated to a higher degree than it would be if passed through the condenser wherein it is cooled, and therefore it carries away a greater quantity of detergent liquid in vapor form from the fabric in the treating compartment than it would if passed through the condenser during its circulation. By circulating the entire stream of heated air coming from the fabric treating compartment through the condenser, the condensation of detergent vapors takes place in substantially less time than if only a part of the stream of circulatand a volatile detergent or treating medium, for

ing air were passed through the condenser at one time. The parts of the apparatus are so located that the change of flow of the air from one circuit to the other and back again is accomplished by changing the position of a single valve to or damper and such change may be made manually, automatically, or intermittently by suitable mechanism or by the use of suitable instruments. Various objects and advantageous features of my invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawing wherein the figure shown is a diagrammatic view of the drying and deodorizing portion of apparatus for cleaning fabric constructed in accordance with my invention.

Referring to the drawing, I have shown the preferred embodiment of my invention as comprising a washer tub or fabric treating compartment 1 that is adapted to receive fabric to be treated instance, carbon tetrachloride. Such washer tub or fabric treating compartment preferably contains the usual rotatable perforated drum 2 that may be rotated by any well known means and means are also provided for draining the detergent liquid from the washer tub or treating compartment as is customary in such apparatus.

As shown in the figure, an air conduit 3 col nects the fabric treating compartment 1 with the intake side of a fan 4, a set of lint screens 5 being provided in the conduit 3 intermediate the treating compartment 1 and the fan 4 to intercept any lint or dust carried by the air passing from the garment container towards the fan. The discharge side of the fan 4 is connected to an air heater 6 by means of a conduit '7 and such air heater 6 is connected to the fabric treating compartment 1 by way of an air conduit 8. Thus, a complete air circuit is formed. It will be noted that a conduit 9 leads from the discharge side of the fan 3 to the atmosphere.

In accordance with my invention, a condenser 10 is connected to the air conduit 3 by way of a conduit 11 and also by way of a conduit 12, the condenser having a drain pipe 13 through which condensed liquid detergent can be delivered to any desired point, for instance, a sump tank. A damper 14 is disposed at the junction of the. conduits 3 and 11 and is so arranged that the passageway to either conduit can be closed by shifting the damper from one position to the other whereby the air in the conduit 3 can either be delivered directly to the fan 4 or be by-passed through the condenser 10. The lint screens 5 are preferably positioned between the treating compartment 1 and the damper 14.

In the operation of this apparatus, assuming that the damper 14 is in the full line position shown whereby the air in the conduit 3 is delivered directly to the fan 4, after the bulk of treating medium is drained from the fabric in the fabric treating compartment 1 the fan 4 is placed in operation whereby air will be caused to circulate from the fan 4, through conduit '7, through air heater 6 wherein the air is heated, through conduit 8, throughtreating compartment 1, and through conduit 3 and screens 5 to the intake side of the fan 4, the air continuing through this cycle of circulation and being continuously freed from lint as long as the fan 4 is operated. The air, passing-through the treating compartment 1 and fabric therein not only absorbs any detergent remaining in the fabric in vapor form until it becomes saturated or substantially saturated with such detergent, but also continuously freed from lint at the screens 5, which collects the lint and instead of carrying it to the condenser and heater or other parts of the apparatus. The damper 14 is now moved to the dotted line position shown by any preferred means whereby the passage of air directly to the fan 4 is cut off and such vapor laden air is by-passed through the conduit 11, condenser 10 wherein the vapor is transformed to liquid form and drains out of the conduit 13 to any desired point, and through the conduit 12 to the fan 4, the air then passing through air heater 6, conduit 8, and treating compartment 1 to pickup more of the detergent. This operation is continued as long, as desired or until such time as there is very little or no detergent being condensed from the circulating air at which time the damper 14 is moved to full line position and the air circulating in the manner hereinbefore described until it becomes again saturated with detergent. During all operations the screens 5 continue to separate lint and prevent it from being carried to the condenser, heater or other parts of the apparatus.

Suitable air control valves 15 and 16 are provided at convenient places in the various parts of the air circulating system and are operable simultaneously by a single means andheld in normal closed position in any desired manner. After the drying operation just described, the air valves 15 and 16 are moved to such position that the valve 15 closes off the intake to the heater 6 as shown by the dotted lines and opens a passage from the fan 4 to the atmosphere through the conduit 9, while the valve 16 opens a port in the conduit 8 to permit atmospheric air to enter the conduit and be drawn through the treating compartment 1. Operation of the fan 4 causes a forced circulation of atmospheric air which enters at open valve 16 through the treating compartment 1, conduit 3, fan 4, part open valve 15,

and throughconduit 9 to the atmosphere and.

shown wherein the air is permitted a direct route to and through the fan 4 with the condenser 10 being shut off as an operating part of the apparatus, although this is not necessary.

With the above construction, I have provided apparatus embodying numerous novel and advantageous features. One of these features arises from the fact that heated air may be continuously circulated through the fabric in a treating compartment from which the bulk of the detergent has been drained until the air becomes substantially if not completely saturated with the detergent in vapor form, whereupon the entire stream of saturated or substantially saturated air may be passed through a condenser which at other times may be completely shut off as an operated part of the apparatus to condense the detergent from the air and transform it into liquid form, all the while lint is being continuously removed from the air stream. Thus, the drying time for the fabric in the treating compartment is substantially reduced in that the heated air does not pass through the condenser except when desirable, and the lint is kept away from other parts of the apparatus. Also, such construction is advantageous in the reduction of the amount of heat necessary to properly heat the air as will be readily apparent. A further advantage resides in the fact that a part of the stream of heated air may be directed through the condenser while the remainder of the heated air passes on through the cycle due to the ability to adjust damper 14 to any of its various positions intermediate its end positions, which permits the heavier satu rated air which naturally travels along the lower side of the conduit 3 due to force of gravity to be removed from the air stream and passed through the condenser. Various other advantageous features will be readily apparent.

What I claim is:

Dry cleaning apparatus wherein fabric is subjected to a volatile detergent comprising, a fabric treating compartment, a fan, and an air heater arranged in the order named and forming a part of a closable circuit including connections leading from one to the other, the connection between the treating compartment and the fan being direct and leading from the treating compartment to the intake side of the fan, a condenser operatively connected in parallelwith the connection between the treating compartment and the fan, a single valve means movable to two positions, one to close off said condenser'as a part of the closable circuit and the other to render it an effective part .thereof, a valve controlled air inlet in the connection between the air heater and the treating compartment, a discharge connection from the fan to the atmosphere preceding said heater, and a two-way valve operable to selectively connect the discharge connection of the fan with the air heaterin a closed circuit or with the atmosphere, whereby a continuous stream of fresh air for fabric deodorizing purposes may be drawn from the atmosphere, passed through said treating compartment and then discharged to the atmosphere, with the condenser either included in or omitted from the circuit.

RUSSELL A. HETZER.

iso 

